Russell Martin has won the mixed set of opening results as the boss of the new Glasgow Rangers. In Europe, they appear to knock out Panatinaikos, ban full surrender, and do the same thing as Viktoria Plzeň.
The Champions League qualifications and advancements are on the way to the club financially and could potentially be able to further strengthen the team in January.
Domestic, they’re already finding a four-point drift from rival Celtic and are standing up for a challenge if they want to push the Scottish premiership title.
Martin has already brought many players from England this summer, including EFL veteran Joe Rothwell, but he is now turning his attention to new targets between the sticks.
Ranger learns price tags to sign Pierce Charles
Alan Nixon via Glasgow World confirmed that Martin wants to bring Pierce Charles, the 20-year-old goalkeeper, to Ibrox on Wednesday, but he’s not cheap.
“Young Keeper Pierce Charles is on sale in Sheffield on Wednesday, but the asking price is around £8 million. The 20-year-old Northern Ireland stopper is fantasized by many clubs, including Ranger, Leicester and Southampton.
This will only make him the most expensive keeper ranger ever signed, but also the third most expensive player to date. From a Wednesday’s perspective, £8 million will make Charles the most expensive departure of all time.
The Rangers appeared to face the opposition of the Premier League from West Ham, not just clubs interested in signing Charles. However, Graham Potter’s side has announced Mads Hermansen’s £20 million signature from Leicester City. Based on this, it would be surprising if the hammer made this window to another keeper.
Charles is better than Batland
Bringing Charles as the third most expensive player in the club’s history isn’t a downplay decision, but there are some important reasons why it may actually be a wise move.
2024/25 League Performance | ||
Butland | Charles | |
The game has been played | 28 | 10 |
Faces XG | 28.79 | 12.91 |
Recognized goals | 31 | 10 |
Prevented the goal from facing XG | -2.21 | +2.91 |
Total Pass Accuracy | 77.4% | 76.3% |
Accuracy of long balls | 39.4% | 52.5% |
Data via FOTMOB | ||
Batland played more games than last season, but Charles played his game in a higher level league with a report from May ranked the 10th best league in the world, but the SPL didn’t crack the top 20.
With the words of shotstop, Charles clearly leads the Batland. Based on XG, Butland acknowledges more goals than he should have, and Charles does the exact opposite. This is not an outlier for Butland either, as he has acknowledged more league goals than XG suggests they should have in each campaign.
When it comes to ball-playing ability, Batland edges Charles slightly with overall passing accuracy, but Charles is 13.1% accurate on the long ball. Martin’s playstyle is based on ownership, and he often likes to play short passes from behind, with a nearly negligible difference in this division. However, in scenarios where the keeper has to go for a long time, the rangers could likely be successful with Charles frequently in goal.
However, the biggest factor between the two is age. While 32-year-old Butland is unlikely to improve, 20-year-old Charles can develop. £8 million may seem like a lot for now, but if you invest with his future talent in mind, it could be a steal.
